


Shine On As We Begin

by getoffmyhead



Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: Bye Week, F/F, F/M, Multi, Relationship Negotiation, Vacation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-02
Updated: 2019-09-02
Packaged: 2020-10-05 16:37:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,920
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20491916
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/getoffmyhead/pseuds/getoffmyhead
Summary: For the first three years of their relationship, Sid took his bye week vacation alone, striking off by himself like he didn't have a family at all. Anna wasn't going to let him make it four.





	Shine On As We Begin

"I don't understand why you're going to Miami in the middle of the season," Zhenya complained as he followed her into their bedroom to retrieve her phone from the bedside table, where she'd left it to charge after her workout. 

"It's not hard to understand," she teased over her shoulder. "Pittsburgh is freezing. I need to go thaw out."

"It's not that cold," Zhenya muttered, but his feet made soft sounds on the floor wrapped in thick socks, and he curled his sweater down over his hands, so just his fingertips stuck out. Even indoors, it was chilly, and too early in the winter to be getting used to it. 

She curled one foot under her to sit on the bed and pick up the phone. Zhenya crashed in beside her, obviously not willing to give up the offensive. "Anya, don't go," he urged, reaching for her phone as she opened her preferred airline's app. She pulled it back, away from his reach, and he huffed out a breath, settling in with his chin on her shoulder to mournfully read as she scrolled through tickets. 

"It's just for a week," she said shortly. She had to be a little harsh. If Zhenya sensed weakness, he would exploit it, and her plans might not get off the ground. 

"We'll go for bye week," Zhenya said pitifully. "We always go for bye week."

It was true. The two of them had spent bye week in Miami every year since she joined him in America, three years in a row. It was easy--they didn't have to hassle with renting a place since Zhenya had owned a condo there for years, and they had a lot of friends in the area. They even had a couple of babysitters lined up down there, people they trusted to watch their son so they could have a night out. It was the logical place to take a vacation. There was just one big flaw. 

Anna looked briefly at Zhenya. He lifted his chin off her shoulder to meet her gaze. His eyes were soft, full of puppy-dog charm as they always were when he wanted something from her. She fought the pull of a smile and returned to her phone. 

"I can't go with you if you go now,” Zhenya tried again. “We have too many games."

"You'll be fine."

"What about Nikita?"

"He'll be fine, too. Would you like to ask about Sid next?"

"No, he's always fine. But I'll miss you to death."

He was so very dramatic. Anna ran her hand up his back and combed her fingers through his hair in sympathy. "You'll all be fine."

"Bye week is only two months away. You can't hold off until then?"

Anna sighed, looked again at his woeful face, and put her phone down. She turned on the bed to face him and put her hands on his cheeks. "Sid won't go to Miami," she said. 

Zhenya's expression flickered with something profoundly disappointed, the look she’d come to associate with Sid declining to do something as a family. "I know," he said, no longer clowning or begging. He looked forlorn, unhappy about Sid’s choice, but he accepted the truth of the matter. Sid had a proven track record--he would not go with them to Miami. 

"We could ask him again at bye week, but--"

"He'll have plans," Zhenya groaned, rubbing his eyes.

"And he'll invite us to go, but he won’t expect us to."

Zhenya peeked at her over his hands, suspicious. He was starting to get it. "You're suggesting--"

"If we're going somewhere cold for bye week, I want a week in the sun," she said briskly, trying to make it sound like it wasn't a big deal. "Even though I will miss you, all my boys."

Zhenya slowly smiled and shook his head. "You're a devious woman."

"I get what I want," she said with a shrug. "While I'm gone, you can convince him to shave." 

They were mostly through November, the worst month for facial hair, and Sid’s mustache was truly awful. Thankfully, she could pretty well convince Zhenya not to partake in Movember by gently appealing to his vanity-- "It makes you look much older, darling. Distinguished, but older."--but Sid didn't care at all. He'd spent his career being called "The Kid." Looking older was a blessing, in his mind. 

Zhenya disappointed her when he laughed. "Not a chance. You get a week in Miami. I get a week to enjoy his mustache."

She wrinkled up her nose. "I don't know what you see in it."

"It's not about what I see," Zhenya answered with a smug grin, and her face flamed hot like she didn't know what Zhenya liked to do in bed, like she hadn't blatantly watched them many, many times. She swatted at him for making her blush, and he laughed as he jumped up. "You have fun in Miami. I'll have all my fun right here."

He wagged his eyebrows up and down--ridiculous man. She bit down hard on her laugh because she didn't want to encourage that behavior and reached again for her phone to settle on a flight. 

******************** 

The first time Anna asked Sid to go with them to Miami, it had been far too soon. She'd barely settled into Pittsburgh at that point. Her body was starting to change a lot toward the end of her second trimester, and her emotions were everywhere. She wasn't even sure how she felt about Zhenya sometimes, let alone the new and fragile intimacy building between her and Sid. Half the time it scared her to death, to the point where she had occasionally thought about leaving, which was why it was not a good idea for Sid to join them in Miami. She needed time away. 

But they were lying in bed together, her and Sid, one quiet morning while Zhenya showered, her head on his shoulder. He pulled up some pictures of his hometown on his phone, a pretty place all bathed in green. She'd been curious about it for a while, where Sid came from, and they were getting close enough she felt like she could ask. 

"You live here?" she asked in still-clumsy English, pointing at the picture of a wooden house with tall windows facing the still waters of a lake.

"Sometimes. When I'm not in Pittsburgh. Or traveling. So--Barely ever," he laughed, and she got the gist of his words more than the full meaning, enough to smile along with him.

Anna's eyes scanned over the serene beauty of the lake and the trees in the picture. It looked relaxing, the perfect place to get away from the chaos of life in the public eye. "You go for--" she grasped for words, and Sid’s arm pulled her tighter against his side, like he wanted to shield her from the momentary discomfort of not knowing how to say it. 

"Break?" he offered. "Bye week?"

Anna nodded, and Sid shook his head. 

"No. Not this year."

"Where?" she asked. 

"I think I'm going to fly out to Whistler, do some skiing. Still have to run it by the team, but assuming they sign off. If not, well-- I'll figure it out."

Anna didn't know what came over her to make her say it, but she just felt so fond of him at that moment. She didn't want to let him go for a week. Before she could stop her mouth from moving, she said, "No, you come. Miami."

Anna was shocked at her offer and partly relieved when Sid just laughed and turned his head to kiss her temple. 

"I appreciate the offer, but I'll be alright. I like playing in the snow, meeting new people. It'll be fun."

Anna smiled with him and accepted his answer, but it stayed with her, the fact that she'd even asked. She thought about Sid a lot while she and Zhenya explored Miami, wondering what he was doing at the same time out on his snowy mountain three time zones and hundreds of miles away. Happy as she was to have a vacation alone with Zhenya, she was equally ready to return to Pittsburgh and have Sid in her arms again.

********************** 

Predictably, Sid made no fuss about Anna's plan to vacation without them in Miami for a week. Anna told him over dinner that night, and he went into immediately into planning mode. 

"We’re home all week, so it shouldn’t be a problem. We'll just need to make sure somebody can be here during practices for Niki. Maybe during games, too. Unless Mario can keep him in his box. He'll be up kind of late if we do that, though."

"Only for three games," Zhenya said with a shrug. "It's fine."

Sid made a doubtful face. "Let's just see if somebody can take him home after the second period and stay with him until we get back. Sleep is a big deal at his age."

"And my age, too," Zhenya clowned. "Wish somebody let me go home after second, go to sleep. Mean captain, make me stay."

Anna felt a surge of affection for them as they descended into light bickering, goading each other about their abilities and effort on the ice. Nikita watched them with wide, interested eyes while he chewed his dinner. When Sid descended into laughter at Geno's fake complaining, Nikita laughed with him. She knew she'd made the right choice to take everybody along with Sid at bye week. They would have fun, even in the cold. 

A week later, Sid drove her to the airport early in the morning while Zhenya and Nikita slept in. Sid surprised her when he didn't simply pull up to the curb, but rather swung into the parking garage. 

"You're going?" Anna asked. 

"Yeah. I figured I could carry your bag, see you off. If that's okay."

"Sure, yes. It's good," Anna said, stumbling over her words in her surprise, because Sid didn't do that. He avoided airports until the last second, barely making it through security in time and dashing onto planes. Sid never saw people off or met them at baggage claim, not even his parents. It caused too much fuss, he said. It made everything about him. People just wanted to travel, not wait around while he signed autographs. 

Anna was doubly surprised that Sid was willing to be seen with _her_, willing to risk the chance of a photograph of the two of them exiting the car and making their way across the street to the revolving doors. Sid had the strap of one of her bags over his shoulder while the other rolled along on the ground and she felt a little useless, holding only her purse, but also pampered. The thrill made her smile helplessly, walking with Sid, and she held her head up high striding into the airport.

Sid went all the way to the ticket counter with Anna. The clerk looked up as they approached and gave Sid a knowing smile, the kind Zhenya sometimes got when they went out--the kind that said, 'I know who you are.' 

"I hope you're not going," the clerk said teasingly to Sid. Sid put the bags on the scale with an easy laugh. 

"Nah. Just Anna," he said, like this woman should know their relationship and he didn't have to explain anything. Anna felt a little choked by the ease with which he said it without any qualifiers. He usually introduced her as his friend or, rarely and in much more private settings, his good friend. He'd learned not to announce her as Geno's wife, at least, but he never claimed Anna for himself.

The clerk gave a relieved sigh. "Oh, thank god. We need you to beat the Flyers tonight."

"I'll be there, don't worry."

When Anna handed over her driver's license, the clerk's eyes flicked up curiously. Maybe she recognized the name or thought she did. Even a fairly casual fan might have picked it up from a broadcast or one of the Cup celebrations. Anna dared an apprehensive glance at Sid.

Sid looked perfectly at ease. He leaned on the counter and gave the clerk his winningest smile. "You coming to the game?"

The moment of curiosity passed as she looked back at him, replaced by the look of helpless adoration most Penguins fans had when faced with Sid. "I am, yeah. That's actually why I'm in early. I traded shifts to go."

"Awesome. Well, I'll see you there then."

The clerk laughed and blushed. She looked down as much out of bashfulness as to run Anna's information for the flight. "Miami, huh? Must be nice, getting some sun."

"Sure, very nice," Anna replied, and her accent made the inquisitive tightness around the clerk's eyes return.

"Trust me, we're all super jealous," Sid interjected, again tearing the woman's attention away from Anna.

"I'll bet," she answered Sid while the boarding pass printed. "Alright, hun. You're in terminal A--just follow the signs to security over to the left there. Have a safe trip!"

Anna thanked her and turned to follow her directions toward security with Sid beside her. The airport remained sparsely populated, with only a few people here and there. None of them seemed to recognize Sid. 

Sid stopped outside of security with her and looked a little wistful. "I guess this is as far as I go."

Anna reached for his hand and got halfway there before she thought better of it. "I guess," she echoed, suddenly feeling kind of regretful about the whole trip. "I will miss you."

"Nah. You'll be too busy sunbathing. Swimming. Having fun." Sid smiled and closed the distance between them to hug her. "Don't forget to buy sunscreen."

"I won't," she whispered, clinging to his shoulders. 

"I'll miss you, too. We all will," Sid said, all trace of joviality gone from his tone. He pulled back like it took effort, like he was being pulled toward her. His smile looked strained. His hand lingered on her shoulder for a long time. 

"It's just one week," Anna scolded herself more than him, wiping away a stray tear that felt like it might come loose from her lashes. "Stop being silly."

"I'm sorry," he chuckled as he finally pulled away completely. "Be safe, okay?"

"Anything for you, my love," she said in Russian, nothing he didn't understand. "Take care of Nikita. And Zhenya." 

"Too hard," he joked back in his appalling Russian. He understood plenty, but producing the language bordered on hopeless. 

Sid was taking steps back, pulling himself out of her orbit. 

"We'll be fine," he promised. "Go have fun."

Anna wanted to run after him, get back in the car and go home to make breakfast for their son. Instead, she nodded. "Okay. I go."

"Hey," Sid called as soon as she turned. His accent was much better, the Russian words more articulate, when he said, "I love you." It sounded natural from repetition--he said it to her and Zhenya and Nikita every day, and she never tired of hearing it.

"I love you, too," Anna replied, and she turned to walk away from him before she changed her mind. 

********************** 

By the second time Anna invited Sid to Miami for bye week, things between them had started to get serious. They weren't exactly living together yet, but Sid was spending a lot less time at home. His things were beginning to linger around the house, not just when he was there--a sweatshirt in the closet, his running shoes beside Zhenya’s, a series of boring-looking English-language novels on the coffee table. He ate dinner with them most nights and didn’t go home to sleep. Their lives were beginning to run together, their paths converging more and more.

Six days before bye week, Sid returned from morning skate and found her in the bathroom, bathing Nikita. Sid leaned in the doorframe and smiled at her kneeling by the tub with Nikita in his blue baby bath seat. "Hey. Wow, you're--soaked," Sid laughed. As he said it, Nikita kicked and splashed her shirt again. She was dripping on the floor.

"Yes, I can see," Anna said in feigned irritation. "You got Mama's clothes all wet, gremlin," she scolded in Russian. Nikita smiled his still largely toothless smile and wiggled in his seat. "Where is Zhenya?" she asked over her shoulder. She needed an assist to get the baby out and dry without getting water everywhere herself. 

"Oh, uh--" Sid sounded taken aback. "He's running to the store. But I can take him."

"Yes, please." She did a final rinse of Nikita's hair and then reached behind her for a towel. Sid grabbed it and held it between his hands so she could lift Nikita into it. She watched Sid wrap the baby up, carefully cradling his tiny body to put him on his shoulder and carry him into the bedroom.

Anna had to change all of her clothes, underwear included. She was pretty sure she could have climbed into the tub with the kid and not gotten as wet. She emerged into the bedroom, toweling the damp strands of her hair and stopped at the sight of Sid and the baby on the bed. While Sid often held Nikita, he didn’t usually change him or clean him up after a meal. Those tasks were left to Anna and Zhenya--one of them whisked the baby away and brought him back immaculate. She didn’t even realize Sid knew _how_ to put on a diaper, except now Nikita was wearing one and it looked like he’d done it perfectly.

Sid gently wrestled Nikita's tiny, flailing limbs into a onesie, talking to him in a tone full of affection. "You did pretty good in there, splashing your mama. Got some real skills. I bet you'll be a fast swimmer when you grow up."

Anna leaned against the bathroom doorframe and watched Nikita kick and gurgle, delighted to have Sid's full attention. Sid didn't look any less charmed, smiling away while he snapped the onesie together at the bottom. 

"There you go, little man. Warm and dry."

Nikita reached out for Sid's hand and grasped his thumb and pinkie in his tiny fists. He was so taken with Sid, just as much as he was with Zhenya. To him, they were the same--two people who loved him and cared for him and were always around. 

"He will miss you," Anna mused, speaking before she thought. Sid looked up, smile fading. "You come? Come for bye week in Miami?"

Sid's smile didn't come back. He looked back down at Nikita and cleared his throat. "How would that work? I just fly down and hang out with your friends?"

"Yes."

"People will think it's kind of weird."

"I don't care."

"I do," Sid said, voice low. "And so will you, if they pick up anything strange. You don't want to deal with it."

"Deal with what? They are friend. You are friend. It’s the same."

Sid's frown got deeper. His eyes looked troubled when he darted a glance up at her. 

"Not _same_," she said because she obviously didn't think that. "But just-- _They_ will think is same. No one will say anything."

"I don't think it's a good idea," Sid said flatly, like he did when his mind was made up, when he'd decided this was how it was going to be for them and that was it. He'd been doing it a lot lately, as the season started to take its toll on his mind and body. He seemed determined to set hard boundaries around them, cut off something that had once seemed destined to grow bigger and stronger without limit, and she was sick of it. 

"Why not? Even if friends see us, think we are family, why is that bad? We _are_ family."

Sid didn't tear his eyes away from Nikita when he said, "I mean-- Not really, though."

Anna felt punched in the stomach. "You think we are not family?"

"We're not. We're--something else. You and Geno and Nikita are a family. And I'm--" He trailed off and shrugged.

"No! You think this?"

"Anna," Sid said her name admonishingly, like she was messing with him and he wanted her to stop. "When I walked in here, you weren't going to ask me to help with Niki. You wanted Geno. Because I'm not your husband and I'm not his father."

Anna faltered, grasping for words because he was right. That was exactly what she had done. 

"Hey," Sid soothed, reaching for her. She walked forward, and he took her hand. "You know I'm happy, right? This doesn't have to be anything else."

She scanned his face, feeling hollowed out. She wanted to tell him he was wrong, that they were a family and he belonged with them. But she couldn't deny her actions, and she hadn't treated him like family. 

"We're okay," Sid tried. He squeezed her hand. His other hand was on the baby's stomach, holding him lightly so he wouldn't roll off the bed. Sid was comforting her and caring for Nikita. When Zhenya got home, they would make lunch together, laughing and bickering and sharing the deep affection they'd built over the years before they met her. She usually loved to watch how they adored each other. They _were_ a family.

Only, when Zhenya got home, Sid met him in the garage and talked to him in low, fast English, which she couldn't hope to catch by eavesdropping. Then Sid's car started, and Zhenya came inside alone. 

"Where's Sid?"

"He's going home," Zhenya said with an appraising look at her.

"Why?"

"He needs time to think. And we should probably talk."

"We should talk together, _with_ Sid," Anna insisted, because how could they work on a relationship if one of them was missing?

Zhenya made a pained face and walked over to her. He kissed her forehead. "Just you and me for now, okay?"

"Does he want to break up?"

"No. But he does want a plan. He's happy if we stay this way, but not if it makes you miserable. So we need to figure out what we want and tell him."

She took an unsteady breath and nodded. Zhenya petted a hand over her hair. 

"I'll make lunch. We'll talk. And when we come back from Miami, we'll tell him what we're doing."

They'd done precisely that, spending an excruciating two weeks away from Sid while he gave them the distance they needed to work everything out. They talked a lot, her and Zhenya. They even fought--a relatively rare occurrence between them. And then they came back from bye week with a plan to make it work, all three of them. 

Sid tensed when Zhenya grasped his hand after dinner the night they came back to Pittsburgh, braced like he just knew it was all over. When Zhenya told him, "We will be a family. All of us. We're together," Sid let out a huge breath. He looked so relieved as Zhenya tried to carry on, to specify what they talked about, but it didn't even seem like he cared. Sid nodded along until he broke, covering his eyes while his shoulders trembled. Zhenya stopped talking and pulled him into a hug and made soothing noises like he wasn't crying, too. When Anna touched Sid's back, he grasped for her as well. It meant so much to all of them to make it work; she knew they would. 

******************* 

Whether Zhenya encouraged it or not, Sid's face was smooth when Anna returned, even though it was still the final day in November. She watched Sid drive home out of the corner of her eye, happy to see his unencumbered face again. When they got home, she hardly let him get through the door before she stopped him and pulled him in to kiss him, reacquainting herself with the feeling without a bristly touch against her cheek. 

"You really hated it, didn't you?" Sid laughed, but his arms were around her waist, and he looked so pleased.

"Yes," Anna said against his mouth, smiling with him. "It's very bad. Never do it again."

Sid shrugged, refusing to commit to something so drastic. "Sorry."

"He'd have to be in a coma to skip it," Zhenya teased, having heard enough as he came around the corner. Nikita toddled along beside him until he caught sight of Anna, and then he ran as fast as his chubby legs would allow into her arms. 

"Hi baby," Anna cooed, scooping Nikita up into a hug. Zhenya kissed her over the baby's shoulder, a brief peck to say hello. "What did you all get up to without me?"

“Nothing,” Sid said, like they hadn’t sent her pictures of Nikita skating with the stragglers at an early optional skate. Zhenya took a video of Sid helping the baby score on Matt, who flopped down in devastation. Nikita patted him on the head to comfort him. 

“We fed him ice cream for every meal and let him watch TV for hours,” Zhenya said in Russian, tongue firmly in cheek. 

“Ice cream?” Nikita asked, craning back to look at Zhenya interestedly. 

“Good job, G,” Sid laughed and patted Zhenya’s shoulder on the way past him. Clearly, he was trying to escape and not be the bad guy telling Nikita he couldn’t have ice cream in the early afternoon. Zhenya snapped a hand around his wrist and pulled him in instead, wrapping an arm around his shoulders and locking him in place. 

“Later,” Zhenya said to Nikita, who pouted for a second but seemed to accept the answer. "Anya, come to the kitchen and see the flowers Sid got you."

"Sid got me flowers?" 

"No," Sid answered in Russian as they followed, and Zhenya shot a betrayed look over his shoulder. "G, uh, get flower--I only pay."

She smiled at the extravagant bouquet on the island. She would never have believed Sid bought it even if they hadn't told her. She reached for a lily and touched it lightly. Nikita stretched his fingers toward the arrangement, too. "Flowers from both of you," she said. Her fondness for them felt too big, like it might not leave enough room for her to breathe. 

That night she tucked Nikita into his bed with a kiss. By the time she joined them in the bedroom, Sid had Zhenya under him, legs splayed around Sid’s hips while they kissed. She walked in with a smirk. “Don’t mind me. Just getting ready for bed.”

“So are we,” Zhenya said, pulling away from Sid to look at her. She shucked out of her tee shirt and his eyes roamed up her body. “Hey, come on.”

“Maybe I’m feeling a little tired,” she teased, hooking her thumbs into her shorts. “Maybe I’ll go to sleep.”

“You can try,” Sid said, propping himself up on one hand to get the other one down between them. She couldn’t see what he did, but it made Zhenya close his eyes and groan. Sid gave her a pointed look. 

“Well, if you’re going to be noisy, I might as well,” she sighed and pushed her shorts down with her panties. Sid reared back as she climbed onto the bed and pulled her close to kiss her. 

None of them rushed to get dressed or make the bed afterward. They wanted to relax together, a tangle of sweaty limbs that really shouldn’t be so comfortable. Sid ran a hand up her leg where she had it splayed across his hip. “You’re so tan everywhere.”

“Not _everywhere_,” she scolded. He made it sound like she went to the beach in the nude. She clearly had bikini-shaped strips of light skin on her breasts and bottom. 

He chuckled. “Did you do anything but lay around in the sun?” 

“Yes, I go dance. Go to yoga. Shop, also.”

Zhenya kissed Sid’s shoulder with a sigh. “My poor old man. I showed you everything on Instagram, remember?”

“Instagram doesn’t show anything,” Sid said, wrinkling his nose in distaste. “Just weird videos and selfies.”

For the first year or so, Anna honestly thought Sid was joking about his social media ban. She’d slowly come to terms with the reality that he had no social media presence and no interest in learning. He would peek over Zhenya’s account sometimes, if he wanted to see something specific, but he got impatient with the carefully curated lives reflected in the posts. He was only interested in the real, the stories, not the snaps. 

Anna curled up to him and petted his chest. “It’s okay. I will tell you everything.”

Sid listened intently to her recounting of the trip. She’d called, of course, while she was gone, but mostly that had been to wish the baby goodnight and tell them all she loved them. Her adventures in Miami barely made it into the phone calls, just the occasional comment about where she and her friends went that day. Here, with all the time in the world, she could tell them everything. Well, until Zhenya got bored and wandered off to take a shower. 

When her recounting of her week in Miami wound down, Sid kissed her on the hair and lay in heavy silence for a moment before he said, “You love it there.”

Anna pulled back to look at his face, contemplative but also full of something unreadable. “I love home more,” she said firmly, because he needed to know. He would come to find out, of course, at bye week, but she wanted Sid to know that she would pick him over Miami. 

Sid kissed her. When she looked at his face again, the unreadable terseness in his expression had faded, but didn’t disappear completely. He was thinking about something, maybe a little worried. Anna hoped a week with him in January would take that away, make him realize his family wanted him more than any amount of sunshine or parties. 

******************* 

After all the fuss from the previous season, Anna thought it was a forgone conclusion that Sid would join them in Miami the third year. She didn't even bother asking. Even though he was dragging his feet about actually selling his house, Sid lived with them at that point. It made perfect sense that they would vacation together.

Anna didn’t think anything of it until the airline asked for Sid's driver's license information while she booked the tickets online. She skipped into the den and crashed in beside him on the couch, smiling away. "We fly next week to Miami. I buy tickets," she said as she reached for his pocket to get his wallet.

Sid's hand covered hers, and the mood in the room dropped. Her heart went with it as she froze. When she looked at Sid's face, he looked stricken. 

"Oh, I--sorry. I didn't know you wanted me to-- I made plans with Taylor. We're going to this resort a couple of hours away from Montreal."

Anna had met Sid's sister, Taylor, a couple of times, but barely knew her. She'd only met Sid's parents at Cup parties. She wasn't sure what Sid told them about his family or how much they pried. She thought they were close, Sid and his parents, or had been once, maybe. Sid didn't talk much about them, and they barely visited. 

"You, uh--" Sid started, scratching the back of his neck. "You guys could come if you want. With me. You don't have the tickets yet, right?"

"You want us to come? With Taylor?"

Sid's expression flickered like he wasn't sure. Anna's heart sank to the floor and started melting into it. "Yeah. She won't mind. You could, like, get to know each other a little. I'm sure she'd be thrilled to hang out with Niki for a few days. It's private up there."

"Private?"

"Yeah. Nobody will ask, you know. About--"

Anna stared at him. "Is this a secret to you?" she asked in Russian, half hoping he wouldn't understand her. 

"No, Anna. _No_. This isn't a secret. My family knows. Taylor loves you guys."

The unspoken things between the lines might as well have been highlighted. Taylor was young and modern-minded, and she adored Sid, had always looked up to him. Of course, she would be on board with their unconventional life. But Sid's Catholic parents--

"Did you know Sid's parents don't like us?" Anna grilled Zhenya the second she had him alone, which involved accosting him in the bathroom when he got in from a run.

"Yeah," Zhenya said simply, stripping out of his sweatshirt like he wasn’t concerned at all. "Well, it's not that they don't _like_ us, it's just--they don't get it. Our life."

She watched Zhenya kick off his shorts and climb into the shower. "And you didn't think to tell me that?"

"What's to tell? His parents are just old fashioned, like mine."

"Your parents come visit all the time. They love Sid."

"They still think it's strange," he said over the sound of the water.

"But they _come_. Sid's parents have never come since he moved in."

Zhenya didn't say anything for a moment, then, "Did he say it bothered him?"

"No, but he didn't have to. It's _Sid_. He wants everyone to love him."

"His parents still love him. It's just an adjustment."

"Should I call them?"

"What? Why?"

"To invite them here, after bye week. Maybe they just need to see that he's happy."

"That could be a good idea,” Zhenya said, but his voice was full of hesitation like he thought it might not be. “We'll work on it after the break. Let's just relax for now."

She let it go and let Sid fall from her grasp one more time, but she swore it would be the last. Three years in, she was done letting Sid go for big moments. Hell, she hadn't been dating Zhenya for three _months_ before they were vacationing together. She would get Sid all the way on board if she had to have awkward dinners with every member of his extended family and all of his friends to do it. 

And that was basically how it went. Anna sent her most Canadian offer to Sid's parents, an invitation so polite she knew they couldn't refuse, and then charmed them with everything she had until their smiles softened into real fondness, particularly for Nikita. She added Taylor on Snapchat and texted with her weekly until they were caught up with each other's lives and promising to visit. She even invited Nate over when the Avs came to town, which had Sid blushing and stammering as he explained things that clearly never came up between them while they were running sprints and golfing in Nova Scotia. 

The pieces fit, Anna was sure of it. They worked. Sometimes, puzzles just required a little bit of force. So, at the end of the season, when she'd done what she could to mash their lives together, she was delighted that it didn't take any effort from her to make Sid say, "I think I'm going to do a couple of weeks around Europe. See the sights. It's been a while since we had a long summer--might as well do something with it. You guys want to come?"

It felt like the end of a masterpiece, a labor of love coming together to make Sid hers, _theirs_, forever. It was the first summer Sid offered to be with them, to vacation together. Sure, it was in strange places, and he still balked at the idea of joining Zhenya and his friends in Moscow for the FIFA World Cup, but it was a step, a start. It signaled to her that Sid was on board and willing to meet them halfway. She could take care of the rest. 

************************ 

By the end of December, Anna hadn’t heard a single thing about Sid's bye week plans. She was starting to get antsy, asking Zhenya whether Sid said anything to him, whether he overheard him in the locker room. 

"I don't go to work to listen to Sid," Zhenya laughed, twisting away from her to get the orange juice out of the fridge. "I get enough of him here at home."

"Zhenya," she said, frustrated. She just wanted to know where they would be going--Montreal, maybe, the same resort Sid visited last year. "You would tell me, right? If you knew."

"Of course I would," Zhenya assured her before he gulped out of the jug. "He hasn't said anything. Maybe nothing's caught his eye."

"He can't just leave it to the last minute."

"He has before."

The idea that Sid, who planned out where to refill his water bottle during New York press day, would wait until the last minute to plan a week vacation sounded ludicrous. Zhenya seemed to realize her thoughts by her expression and answered them. 

"If you want to know so badly, why not ask him?"

"It would ruin the surprise."

"That's okay. Sid hates surprises."

"What do I hate?" Sid asked when he entered, obviously having caught only a few of their words, enough to wonder. He opened the fridge and pulled out the eggs. 

"Hard to say in English," Zhenya said, a total bullshit excuse that he still pulled from time to time and always made Sid look sideways at him. 

"Uh-huh," Sid said, unimpressed but willing to move on to get the day started. "How many eggs?"

"Three."

"Scrambled okay?" Sid always asked, as if he knew how to make them any other way. 

Anna watched Zhenya's eyes soften with how much he adored Sid. "Sure. Any way is fine."

Sid got the eggs beaten in a bowl and put a pan on to heat up. While he waited, he snagged the orange juice out of Zhenya's hand and took a swig. "This is way too much sugar before practice."

Zhenya wrinkled his nose and called Sid a hypocrite in Russian too fast and mumbled for Sid to catch it, but he also leaned in to kiss him. Zhenya's fingers snuck around the bottle while their lips pressed together and he came away with it, victorious. 

"You'll crash if we run suicides," Sid said, eyes all crinkled up he was smiling so much. 

"Beat you, for sure,” Zhenya said slyly, and Sid’s expression feigned outrage.

"Okay, let's not have a fight this morning," Anna said, stepping in to take over the eggs. "You two work on getting ready. I'll make breakfast."

"It's not a real fight," Zhenya mumbled, acting like she took his toy away. But he put the orange juice back and went to finish putting on clothes for practice, leaving Sid fully dressed in the kitchen with his job usurped and nothing to do but watch her cook.

"What's he up to?" Sid asked.

Zhenya wasn't up to anything. It was all Anna's idea to follow Sid to his snowy vacation. So she could truthfully answer, "Nothing."

Sid examined her face for a long beat after she said it, suspiciously searching for the truth before he reluctantly accepted and turned the conversation to the day’s activities after practice. 

As bye week drew nearer, Anna started to get anxious about it. If they needed to buy plane tickets, it would be important to get them relatively quickly. Unless they wanted to get a charter. That might be fun, just the four of them on a little, private plane. Regardless, they needed to make those arrangements.

Sid said nothing, seemingly had no interest in making plans at all or at least not sharing them. Maybe the drama from the year before put him off. Maybe Sid wanted to keep quiet about things until the last minute, avoid the issue. 

The first time Anna heard a peep about Sid's bye week plans was a mere two weeks before the break and it wasn’t even in conversation. Somebody in the press scrum asked about it after a game, and Sid grinned as he said, "Maybe something a little different this year, we'll see."

Anna replayed the video ten times. He was teasing them, laughing with the press, and she knew for sure that Sid knew. He knew where he was going, and he hadn't told Anna or Zhenya. All that work, all the effort, and Sid still wanted to keep parts of his life separate from his family. The only result of all her pushing was now he wanted to hide his plans. 

She could hear the garage door open, Sid and Zhenya returning home. She would typically be down there to greet them, but she felt frozen. She stayed in bed with her laptop, unable to move other than to wipe the tears out of her eyes. 

Sid found her like that first and froze in the doorway to the bedroom. "Anna? What's wrong?"

She shook her head and wiped at her eyes, unable to think of how to word it in English. Even in Russian, it would be a jumble of upset words. 

Sid reached her just as Zhenya dragged in. He was fiddling with his watch and didn't notice right away until he looked up and saw her clinging to Sid. "What's going on?"

"Nothing," she said. Her voice sounded strained, a blatant lie. 

Sid and Zhenya exchanged bewildered looks before Zhenya dropped his watch on the dresser to sit on the side of the bed and take her hand. 

"Bunny, what happened?" Zhenya asked, reaching to brush her hair back. 

"Sid doesn't want to go for bye week together. _Again_."

Even though she said it in Russian, Sid got the message. "What? Where did you get that idea?" Sid asked, pulling her close. "Anna, no. That's not true at all."

"Then why don't you tell us where you're going? Why keep everything so secretive around it? You know where you're going, don't you?"

Zhenya looked up at Sid with indignation pulling at his eyebrows. It obviously had not occurred to him that Sid might be purposely keeping secrets about his vacation plans. 

"Oh, is that what you guys--no, that's not it. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to freak you out. I know where I'm going, yeah. I'm coming with _you_. To Miami. Or wherever you’re going."

Anna sniffed to hold back a sob and softened. "Really?"

"Sure. I know it, uh-- It hurts your feelings when I don’t go with you." Sid shrugged and looked down. "I know you want me to come with you, meet your Russian friends--act more like this is forever."

"It _is_ forever, crazy," Zhenya said, relieved. He leaned forward to kiss Sid. 

“We want you to be part of our life, every part,” Anna said in Russian, slow so Sid could understand. He still looked a little hesitant so she switched languages to say, “You can always come. Meet friends. We always want you before.”

“I know. I wanted to,” Sid said, and she could hear it in his tone. He really did. His hesitation wasn’t founded in a lack of desire. “I guess I was just worried.”

"You worry? For what?"

Sid kissed her hair while she snuggled close. He smelled like soap and shampoo from his shower after the game. “I didn’t want your friends to think-- Once you start advertising this, us, you can’t take it back. People will think about us together. And then if you decided this wasn’t working, it’s that much more difficult to--”

“What’s not working?” Zhenya interrupted sharply. “If we break up?”

“Yeah, I guess. Not that I would, but--you know. As Niki grows up, when he starts to ask questions, I'm worried you’ll realize having three parents isn't the easiest thing."

"Don't be stupid," Anna said, frustrated to be hearing this worry expressed out of Sid. How many times did they have to say it before he bought into the idea that he was their family?

"I know. It's just something--I guess, the first time Niki gets teased. He comes home crying. I'll feel so bad."

"He won't cry. He maybe hit, but not cry."

Sid laughed roughly. "He _is_ Geno's kid."

Anna pulled away from his grasp and cupped his cheeks and switched to Russian to say, "And he's your son. You'll teach him how to handle the teasing if it comes. If people are ignorant, he'll learn not to let it get to him. He'll be tough."

Sid probably didn't follow everything, but he hung on every word, rapt. "My son?" he said in Russian, quietly like he didn't want to break it by saying it too loud. 

"Obviously," Zhenya said. She couldn't see his eyes rolling from her position, but she knew they were. 

Sid forced a laugh past whatever choked up emotions he felt. 

"Come," Anna urged, reaching for her computer. "We buy plane tickets right now."

"To Miami?" Sid asked.

"Yes. We all go together. You meet friends, we say we are family, and we don’t break up."

Sid’s voice sounded a little rough, choked with emotion when he said, “Yeah. That sounds perfect.”

"Oh, thank god. I was _not_ looking forward to trudging around in the snow for a week," Zhenya said as he stood up to shuck out of his suit. He tossed the items over the back of the chair in the corner. Anna would pick them up and hang them in the morning, a chore she undertook because love bred in her the kind of patience she never thought possible. 

Sid turned to watch him strip. "You were going to--something in the snow?"

Zhenya smiled at Sid’s efforts to translate. "Trudge," he repeated, and Sid shook his head, still not getting it. "I don't know. It would suck," Zhenya said in English. "Happy we're go to Miami."

"Where were you going instead?"

"With you, of course," Anna said, touching his shoulder softly. He looked between them like a startled deer, eyes wide. 

"With me?”

"We're a family," Zhenya said, backing her up flawlessly. He finished stripping and flopped onto the bed in boxers to curl a hand over Sid's thigh. "If you want to vacation in mountain, we're come and freeze with you."

Sid looked taken aback by that. "You guys were going to follow me on vacation?"

"We wanted to surprise you, be together for bye week. Just like you wanted to come with us," Anna reminded him. She expected him to respond as even keel as ever and laugh at their misguided efforts to please one another. She kept her eyes on the screen, searching tickets until Zhenya scooted in close and she realized he was wrapping his arms around Sid. 

"Don't cry," Zhenya ordered, but he wasn't serious. His hands were gentle on Sid’s skin, soothing him with kisses on top of his head. 

"I'm not," Sid said, his voice muffled in Zhenya's shoulder, but he sounded like he might be on the verge. She wouldn’t call him out on it, though. She had just found the perfect non-stop flight with four tickets in first class where they could sleep the whole way down if they wanted. She spared a fond glance at her men--Zhenya was subtly trying to tickle Sid to lighten the mood and getting shut down--and clicked the link to book the flight.

**Author's Note:**

> My groove has been seriously thrown off lately. But I have finished this thing, and I would really like to get back on the writing horse. Sorry to anyone I haven't responded to in my hiatus. I'll fix that now.


End file.
